Alberto Aquilani netted a brace as unconvincing Italy edged out Montenegro 2-1 in World Cup qualifying group 8 here on Wednesday.

AS Roma striker Mirko Vucinic made a goalscoring return Real Madrid pelipaita lasten to Lecce, where he played for five years — and in the same yellow and red colours as Montenegro — but he left disappointed as UEFA’s newest nation lost their first ever competitive away match.

It means Italy remain unbeaten and in control of the group with 10 points from four games but once again they failed to set pulses racing and it was only a wildly deflected shot that won the match.

Montenegro are still waiting for their first competitive victory and have just two points from three matches, with only Cyprus below them in the standings.

Italy started brightly enough but unfortunately for the world champions their first two chances didn’t fall to their danger men, with Andrea Dossena and Gennaro Gattuso both firing wide in the first two minutes.

But the hosts were ahead on eight minutes after a defensive mistake from Milan Jovanovic.

The left-back’s attempted back header from Antonio Di Lasten Jalkapallopaidat Natale’s crossfield pass wasn’t strong enough and Simone Pepe ran onto the ball before crossing for Aquilani to bundle home from close range.

That seemed to spark Montenegro into life, though, and Vucinic broke down the right, causing havoc in the Italy box with his cross before Gianluca Zambrotta blocked Elsad Zverotic’s shot on the line.